An additional 11 million Nigerians are expected to fall into poverty by 2022 as a result of the unprecedented shock occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic, the World Bank has said.
The World Bank disclosed this at a conference while briefing on Nigeria’s development update in response to the pandemic.
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According to the World Bank, even before the pandemic, about 2 million Nigerians were expected to fall into poverty in 2020, courtesy of a population growth that has outpaced economic growth, leading to a decline in per capita income of the citizens.
But with Covid that has resulted in the worst economic recession since the 1980s, additional 6.6 million Nigerians will be pushed into poverty, bringing the total newly poor to 8.6 million this year.
“This implies an increase in the total number of poor in Nigeria from about 90 million in 2020 to about 100 million in the year 2022,” the bank said.
